London -- Seven-day pass

We used Oyster Cards with the seven day pass attached to them. Real easy to use. When you get on the bus you tap the card to the reader. When you get off you do not tap the card again. When you go through the turnstile at the tube station you tap the card. This gets you into the system. You can then transfer within stations as much as you like without tapping the card. When you finally leave the tube to go out to the street again, just tap the card to get out. Very easy and very fast. We never bought a single ticket for the tube or bus. The balance you put on the Oyster card also never expires, we kept ours from three years ago and when we return this fall to London we will bring them with us to use again.

Dave, all you have to do is buy the travelcard at a train station, pick-up one of the leaflets there that has the list of 2-for-1 deals and vouchers in the back, and take your card (which presumably would be with you) along with the voucher to the attraction (or whatever). Or, you can print them out at home ahead of time and use them on whaterver dates your schedule and travelcard is good for. You're not wedded to the date you type in on the daysout website.

Yes, weekly Travelcards are sold on Oyster rather than as a paper ticket.

The 7-day pass will expire, but other amounts on the Oyster do not expire. I have used my Oyster for both and had to add more money after 7 days in order to have enough to get to the airport. I made the mistake of validating my 7-day card the evening I bought it and then started using it the next day. I lost a day on the card by validating it before I actually used it. I've been using the same Oyster since 2006. When I leave London I make sure there is enough money left on the card for me to take the Tube into London. It helps, on the next trip, to be able to just go to the Tube at Heathrow without stopping to get cash or put money on my Oyster.

so the seven-day pass is electronic just something programmed into an Oyster card rather than a separate physical entity? I ask because Rick S. doesn't seem very clear about this. Thanks!

There are really 2, 7 - day "cards". One is loaded on your Oyster card. The other is a paper card you purchase at a National Rail Station (not a tube station). It has an advantage in that there are some 2 for 1 admission deals associated with it. Check out the National Rail website for the current "deals". If you will use any, print out the vouchers ( or be certain to pick up the pamplet with them in it when you buy the card), and buy a paper travel card at a National Rail station after you arrive. The deals are also useable if you have a National Rail train ticket (must be valid on the day you use the 2-4-1 deal)- for example if you use the Gatwick Express, Heathrow Connect, etc and buy round trip tickets for day of arrival and day of departure they would get you the 2-4-1s- then you could use the Oyster and load a travel card on it. Hope this doesn't muddy the water more for you. Rick isn't clear on it because it changes regularly and by the time his book goes to press, it could be different than when he was writing it. TripAdvisor has several threads about it all the time and some of their London Experts (TravellerPlus and AdamHornets, especially) are really good at explaining...

Correct response about the 7 day paper travelcards, Toni, except that Heathrow Connect tickets do not qualify for the 2 for 1 deals. The Heathrow Connect is not a National Rail service, nor are Heathrow Express or Eurostar. 7 day travelcards are sent through the reader just like 1 day travelcards. See example at about 1:15 in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olfhN3elog

Now I'm really confused. Toni seems to say, if I understand her right, that a seven-day tube pass is bought with an oyster card, which is not fed into the ticket machine, but rather is, as I understand it, tapped. Chip seems to say that the seven-day pass is bought separately and fed into the ticket machine. Can someone help? thanks.

If you buy a 7-day travel card from a tube station, it is put on a plastic card they call Oyster. That card is tapped on a spot at a turnstyle. If you buy a 7-day travel card from a National Rail (train) Station, if will be a paper card that you feed into a slot.

Craig, just get the Oyster Card with the 7-day travel card attached. It's the easiest way to get around, and easy to buy because they are available for sale at most tube stations. You can add some money to your Oyster Card if you're still in London when the 7 day travel card expires. We bought our Oyster Cards on a Monday at 4pm and they expired 6 days later, so we didn't even get 7 days of use out of them (expired on Sunday at 1pm). This time I will keep my receipt and if the card expires a day early I'll ask someone why this is. I decided not to get the Travel Card for the 2for1 deals, and haven't read of anyone who used that offer here either, though many people say to do it. Basically to get the 2for1 deal, you have to go online, register for it, get your voucher, print it out, and bring it and the travel card with you to the place you want to get the deal for. We didn't have a printer while in London, and I don't ever plan my time in advance enough for that system to work for me.